The Infected Dead (Book 5): Shelter for Now

by Howard, Bob

  The remaining hours of the first day passed by, and when nightfall arrived, even the pilot and copilot became tired enough to sleep. Throughout the night they were awakened when they heard the noise levels increase, but gradually they tuned out the squeals and the thumps. They all fell into a fitful sleep that left them feeling drained.

  The smell of coffee was enough to wake everyone up, and Anne stepped into the flight deck with two cups. There was a faint murmuring inside the plane as opinions were exchanged about whether or not the siege had subsided at all. The sun was still below the horizon, and the frenzy outside could only be judged by what they could see and hear in the passenger bridge. No one felt like the rats could hear them inside the plane, but they agreed they didn’t want to find out the hard way.

  Anne quietly moved down the aisle passing out the steaming coffee, and Mike asked her if she thought the rats could smell the coffee outside the door.

  She leaned closer to him and whispered that she had run a line of duct tape around the seams of the door, but she doubted it was needed in the first place. He was grateful for the extra effort and was glad that she had done it just in case.

  The next three days were almost the same as the first day, but there were patches of tarmac and grass appearing slowly. The rats appeared to be turning on each other more and more as the other food sources dwindled. That included the infected dead.

  When it came down to the lesser of evils, getting bitten and dying from the infection or getting eaten by rats were both a bad way to go, but the infected didn’t attack each other. They did nothing to cause their numbers to decrease. The rats, however, were eating each other.

  At the end of the first week after the rats arrived, they were all gathered into the area of a couple of rows of seats to have a meeting about their current situation. It wasn’t uncomfortable because Mike and Jon had removed several rows of seats a long time ago when they thought they would be staying inside the plane. The extra seats were stacked to allow some privacy in other parts of the plane, and the open space was great for group meetings.

  Garrett started by asking each person how he or she was holding up, and did they feel like they were overwhelmed. It was his way of getting everyone to face the gravity of the situation.

  One by one the crew members all confirmed that they were still in one piece. Susan admitted that she thought her breaking point was far less than what she had already exceeded. When she did that, they all nodded in agreement.

  None of them ever expected they could have survived what they had seen, and it wasn’t over yet. As a matter of fact, that was one of the reasons for the meeting. They needed to talk about what they thought was going to happen next.

  Garrett put the question out there, and everyone got the same disbelieving expressions on their faces.

  “Wait a minute,” said Addison, “I never dreamed we would ever see zombies running around biting people. I saw plenty of them in movies and on TV just like everyone else, but I didn’t think it would really happen. Then came the rats, but if you had asked me what I thought would happen next before the rats appeared, I would have thought you were nuts.”

  “Do you think I’m nuts by asking now?”

  Addison was thinking it over and wasn’t quite sure, but Garrett held her gaze with a straight face.

  “No, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t nuts,” she said.

  That could have come across totally wrong, but when you got right down to it, that’s what Garrett was asking them to do. They were either going to go nuts, or they were going to figure out what could happen next and try to be prepared for it.

  Garrett smiled at Addison. He was genuinely impressed by how well she had held up under the pressure. She might be the youngest member of the crew, but she was being as solid as a rock.

  “You’re asking what we think will happen next,” said Sim, “but why didn’t any of us see it coming? I mean the rats. Why didn’t we think of that?”

  “Good question,” said Garrett. “We’re all educated. We’re all smart people. Why didn’t one of us think of the consequences of this infection? What if we hadn’t realized what was about to happen when we first saw the rats?”

  “We’d be having this discussion inside the walk-in freezer,” said Jon.

  “Exactly,” said Garrett. “If I haven’t said it yet, you guys deserve a medal for the way you got everything to the plane in time.”

  “Speaking of which,” said Anne, “our inventory is good to last until November if we ration.”

  “What about water?” asked Garrett.

  Mike said, “When we took out some of the seats, Jon and I talked about what else we needed to do, and we figured the hardest thing to do was keep us supplied with water. So, we ran water hoses to two places.”

  “Two? Is that why Anne always has fresh coffee that tastes good?”

  Garrett earned a smile from Anne and gave one to the two men for thinking of their water supply.

  “We probably told you about it, Boss, but you can’t keep track of everything,” said Jon.

  Garrett had a new appreciation for his flight crew. They could stay alive inside the plane for months while all around them sat planes full of people that had died in the first few days of the infection. If any of those people had survived longer, he doubted any would have survived the rats.

  “So, who wants to tell me what’s going to happen next?”

  “We can tell there will be fires,” said Sim. “Plenty of those burning out there right now.”

  “Okay,” said Garrett. “What can we do if the terminal catches fire? Can we detach from the passenger bridge without letting the rats in?”

  “If we have to,” said Jon, “but I don’t think it will come to that. The most we could expect if the passenger bridge burned would be some scorching around the door.”

  “Okay, so if our next problem isn’t fire, what will it be? Locusts?”

  Anne answered for the group, “I think the plagues are in the Bible but not so much about zombies.”

  “Rats again,” said Sim.

  Everyone turned in his direction, and they wore the same expression of disbelief.

  Mike said, “They’re reducing their own population, Sim. Give them a few weeks, and the only rats we’ll see are the ones hiding in the dark corners. It won’t be any worse than it was before.”

  “No, I think Sim’s right,” said Susan, “but he doesn’t mean there will be swarms again. The food supply wouldn’t support that. What he’s talking about is a new breed of rats, more aggressive and possibly more dangerous.”

  “Thanks, Susan. That’s exactly what I meant with one more totally psycho twist.”

  Everyone waited for Sim to go on, but he gave them a moment to let it sink in. He could see the dawn of understanding on their faces, and with understanding came the fear mixed with revulsion.

  Sim went on, “The rats ate all of the infected that we disposed of by burning their heads, then they attacked the infected that were still on their feet. I don’t know which is worse, slow moving zombies or fast moving rats that have been eating infected meat.”

  “Do you think they’ll attack living people like us once their numbers are back down?” asked Addison.

  “Rats didn’t generally attack people before the infection because the food supply was large enough to support their population,” said Sim. “People were the biggest enemy to rats, and after the first few days of the infection reduced the number of people who controlled rats, there was enough rotten food to support a larger population of rats. Now that they’ve eaten the available food, including themselves, their next logical food source will be survivors. The only places where people will be safe are places that have other predators that will eat the rats.”

  Jon shook his head and added, “And whatever eats the rats will eventually turn to attacking people.”

  Sim said, “I was thinking along the lines of things that were already dangerous to people. Something like alligators. An
island on the coast would be the safest place, but cities will be the worst place to be.”

  “We’re a long way from the coast,” said Garrett. “Are we still in agreement that a cold climate is our best bet?”

  There were general nods of agreement, but Garrett could tell everyone was still trying to wrap their minds around rats that were infected because they had eaten the infected dead.

  “I hate to admit it,” said Sim, “but I didn’t think of it myself until I started considering rats as a food source.”

  If they weren’t shocked before, they were now. Sim held up his hands in mock self-defense.

  “Hey, I was only trying to think about what we would do for food if we don’t find caches of canned food. Then it occurred to me that the rats that ate the infected dead may be able to pass the infection on to humans by biting them.”

  Jon ran his hand over his bald head and felt a little old for a man of thirty-five. He wondered if everyone would still be together when they got to International Falls, Minnesota. It was only about a thousand miles from Columbus, Ohio.

  ******

  The months passed, and November promised to be everything that they hoped it would be. There were signs of snow by the middle of October, and the first white flakes began to fall as soon as the month ended.

  The water supply had kept the survivors of Executive One from going crazy. Aside from water for cooking and drinking, they were at least able to keep hygiene from becoming a major problem. They would all kill for a long, hot shower, but being able to shave and wash their hair made them stay civilized. Susan had even shaved Jon’s head for him a few times, and everyone pretended not to notice they were closer to each other than before.

  The same could be said for Mike and Addison. They were a natural fit due to their ages, and they had plenty of similar interests. Despite their youth, they were also as discreet as possible given the close quarters.

  Anne and Garrett were the oldest members of the crew and by no means unattractive to each other or the others, but they couldn’t let go of their seniority and professional relationships. They maintained an air of that professionalism for the sake of the others, especially Sim. As the only African American male on the crew he had also felt the difference to some extent, but he had to admit, he did think of all of them as his family.

  Anne, Jon, and Sim passed much of their time planning for the day when they would be leaving the plane. They covered every aspect of an overland trip north to the border of Canada and Minnesota, and they were somewhat afraid they couldn’t cover one thousand miles before the weather became warm again, but then it dawned on them that the winter weather would last longer the further they traveled. All they had to do was keep moving and stay away from whatever came next after infection and rats.

  On the topic of what came next, the trio played cards on the floor of the galley and chatted every night. It was as if that time of the evening was reserved for recreation and discussing hypothetical situations.

  Sim didn’t have to work very hard to convince them that the rats would become aggressive and seek out new prey because they had seen it for themselves. The runways, taxiways, and grass were all clear of rats and bodies, so the rats were either dying off or searching somewhere for another food source. They saw what desperation the rats were being driven to when they saw larger animals run across the airport with rats clinging to them.

  A bear had come into full view with a dozen rats biting it, and the enraged animal was removing them one at a time. It had apparently gotten close enough to the terminal for them to attack as a group but had run far enough to get away from their hiding place. Smaller animals wouldn’t do as well.

  After the bear had removed the rats, crushing them in its powerful jaws, it had sat and licked its wounds before moving on. It would undoubtedly learn to stay away from buildings.

  The scenario was repeated with smaller, faster animals, but it hadn’t worked out as well for them. Coyotes had become more common in the wide open fields as the grass had grown, but speed didn’t help them once they were caught by the rats. Sometimes they would all disappear into the tall grass, and a few hours later the rats would emerge and scurry off to their dark hiding places.

  The next danger after the rats was unanimously accepted as being other survivors who hadn’t done as well as the flight crew. They had to consider anyone they met as being a threat until they had a reason to believe otherwise. That also meant being sure that anyone they met wasn’t already infected.

  When the suggestion was made by Garrett that the other survivors may pose a threat to them because they were a superior force, they decided they wouldn’t let anyone get close enough to them to use their superiority. They were going to make it to International Falls by being stealthy.

  Sooner or later, the hangar had come up during every card game, and they agreed that no idea was too outrageous to consider. They ruled out crazy suggestions, but they talked about them first.

  Sim was the one who had originally noticed the floor of the hangar and the way body parts were distributed around the square seam in the otherwise perfect floor, and he constantly felt like it was right before his eyes. He felt like it was so obvious that anyone could see it.

  During a card game at the beginning of October, Anne pointed out that they were running out of time to solve the riddle of the hangar and whatever that thing was in the floor. She had just made the comment when Sim got a strange, far off look on his face.

  “I think I’ve got it,” he said. “Or maybe I’ve got part of it.”

  “Does it have something to do with not having much time left?” asked Anne.

  “Not really, but it’s the way you said it that made me think of how quickly everything happened that day. When that Army vehicle got out in front of Air Force One and led it into the hangar, the pilot was directed to that exact spot so the elevator, if that’s what it is, would line up with the door of the plane.”

  Garrett said, “X marks the spot?”

  “Yeah, the front wheels must have been positioned exactly where they needed to be. Then the elevator was raised. If the distance had been too far, they would have needed to jump from the plane to the elevator, and I can’t see the President being told to make that jump.”

  “So, how did they know where to stop?” asked Anne.

  Garrett was scratching his head and staring into space as if he was thinking of something and could see it at the same time.

  “Remember when you were a kid, and you had to park the family car in the garage the first time?” he asked.

  Anne and Sim both smiled and talked at the same time. They laughed, and Sim said, “Ladies first.”

  “My dad hung a tennis ball on a string, and when I was far enough inside, the ball would barely touch the windshield, and I would stop.”

  Sim added, “At least that was the theory. My brother would try to hit the tennis ball hard enough to bounce it into the wall and then try to stop in time.”

  “How’d that work out for him?” asked Garrett.

  “Exactly how you would expect,” said Sim. “My dad didn’t speak for a whole week.”

  “Well, maybe we should just look for a tennis ball on a string,” said Garrett.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  ARRIVING AT NIGHT wasn’t part of the plan, but it was becoming obvious we wouldn’t make it before the sun went down. Plumes of smoke rose from so many locations that we had to change course several times. Detours around billowing clouds of smoke was better than flying through them and then learning they were chemical fires. Smoke from chemical fires was not only toxic to the passengers, it could put a helicopter out of commission.

  We were forced to land in an open field in the middle of Tennessee when Captain Miller’s chopper sounded a warning that the engine was being starved of fuel. That particular problem didn’t surprise the pilots who had already expressed concerns about using fuel that had been sitting still inside storage tanks for over a year.

  One
of the helicopters sat down next to Captain Miller’s to keep an eye on their surroundings while the crew went to work on the problem. Cleaning out a series of filters would make it good as new, but it would take more time than they liked. While they worked, the Chief circled along with the third Navy helicopter to survey the damage in the area and clear the area of threats.

  When they were sure the area was reasonably safe, they both landed with the others, and everyone took the opportunity to stretch their legs. It wasn’t uncomfortable riding in the helicopters. As a matter of fact it was better than riding in a car or a commercial airliner, but we were all eager to reach Columbus and begin our double mission of finding the President’s shelter and eliminating some of the infected.

  The Chief and Kathy crossed the grassy field to meet with Captain Miller while the rest of the group broke out their gear and set up a mess tent. We figured we might as well have some hot food for lunch if we had to be on the ground.

  “Anything in the area?” Captain Miller asked the Chief as they approached.

  “A small town a mile or so up the road. We didn’t see any activity around the buildings.”

  “Funny thing,” said Kathy, “but we’re seeing less infected than I thought we would. Where are they? Did they all migrate to the coast?”

  “I noticed that, too,” said Captain Miller. “I also noticed farm animals are almost nonexistent. The few I’ve seen had been killed in the fields and stripped to the bones.”

  “The temperature is dropping fast as we go north,” said Kathy. She had pulled on a foul weather coat as she got out of the helicopter. “Are those snow clouds up ahead?”

  “There’s so much smoke that I can’t tell for sure,” said the Chief, “but I think so.”

  We finished our hot meal and stowed the gear then sat and waited impatiently as the mechanics did their job. When the rotors slowly started to turn, no one had to be told to warm up the other choppers.